World of Warcraft

Tier 9 Previews: Mage, Hunter, Priest, Shaman and Warlock

2009-07-03T00:48:33Z

Tier 9 Previews: Mage, Hunter, Priest, Shaman and Warlock

The official website was updated with previews of some of the tier 9 armor coming in patch 3.2! Check out the images below.

Warlock Q&A With Ghostcrawler at WorldofWarcraft.com!

2009-07-02T18:27:39Z

WorldofWarcraft.com has posted the most recent class Q&A segment with Ghostcrawler! This time they're focusing on Warlocks, what the class is about, what's coming for the class in the future, and what really makes the Warlock unique.

Here's a look at the original Warlock Q&A with Ghostcrawler:

Warlock Q&A with the Voice of the Class Design Team, Ghostcrawler

Community Team: We’d like start this Q&A off by asking a question that players of all classes often ask in regard to the very purpose of their class. In this case, we’re looking specifically at the warlock.

Where do warlocks fit into the larger scope of things currently and where do we see them going from this point forward?

Ghostcrawler: The warlock is a caster -- a ranged damage dealer. They can fill only one role, which makes them a “pure” class as opposed to a hybrid. Warlocks have a reputation for trafficking with darkness, and their spells and abilities reflect this -- demons, curses, drains, fears. All warlocks rely on damage-over-time spells and demonic pets to some extent. The Affliction tree focuses on damage-over-time spells, curses, and shadow magic in general. The Demonology tree emphasizes the damage and abilities done by demons. The Destruction tree gives up a little of both to become a little bit more like a mage with direct damage and fire magic. Overall, the vision is for warlocks to feel less fragile than mages. They have historically had higher health pools and easier to sustain mana, but fewer emergency escapes. Keeping the mage and warlock feeling distinct is a big challenge. They fill a similar role and share similar gear so sometimes even the profiles of their character art look similar.

Going forward, we want to try and make the warlock experience more different from the mage. Our new plans for Soul Shards will help here. We want to make them a core mechanic instead of a minor feature that can be neglected at best and feels tedious at worst.

We’re happy with the relative damage done by Affliction and Destruction. Depending on which Lich King patch you look at one or the other are slightly on top, but they’re close. Demonology still seems to lag a little behind. We think there is still room for a strong Felguard build in there. It might be that the pets still require too much management or it could just be that the rotation isn’t as interesting as the ones Affliction or Destruction use right now. Demonology suffers from a little bit of the same problem as the Beastmaster hunter, which is when the pet is such a big part of your damage you are crippled in moments when the pet is killed or ineffectual.

Except for a brief moment early in Lich King, warlocks have been under-represented in PvP and we want to see more of them. We don’t want to get there through fear bombs, though. In fact, we think the damage locks can do is in a pretty good place. The problem is survivability, especially when stunned. Now some of the 3.2 changes are going to chill out damage across the board and we are increasing the survivability of pets in PvP. Both of those changes should help warlocks, who historically have been a little better in endurance fights than quick scrums. If those changes aren’t enough, we’re prepared to make additional ones.

Lich King made the warlock pets more interesting but we think there is still a lot of opportunity here. Some of the pets have abilities that just don’t get much use (Imp Fire Shield anyone?) while other pets could benefit from a couple more abilities. The voidwalker for example does all of his damage through just a simple autoattack. While we are slightly positioning the imp as a Destruction pet and the felhound as an Affliction pet, we think we can make the choice of what demon to use at a particular time more interesting. The succubus has too narrow a niche, and the voidwalker is still used mostly as a level-up pet.

Community Team: What is it that makes them unique compared to all other classes?

Ghostcrawler: Demons are a big one. Warlocks are a pet class, but they gain more of their own power from their pets and can make their pets do more than say a hunter or death knight. The way they do damage is different from a mage because a lot of their damage, even for Destruction, comes from damage-over-time spells instead. Warlocks bring some utility that doesn’t strictly increase raid damage, so we feel like it’s fine to keep those abilities unique to the lock -- things like summoning and health stones. But again, we think the real way to keep warlocks from feeling like mages with pets is to do more with the Soul Shard mechanic.

Community Team: Soul Shards is subject that has been a constant amongst warlock players since the launch of the game. While we've made some minor improvements over time, players still find Soul Shards to be an annoyance. Are there any plans in motion to make further improvements to the warlock Soul Shard system?

Ghostcrawler: Yes. As we have hinted on occasion, we have a revamp of the entire system in the works. This is a big change, beyond the scope of the 3.2 patch, but we are confident -- CONFIDENT -- that the new system will be something warlocks finally enjoy. (I’m sure I will never, ever regret saying that.) We hope to be able to talk more about it at BlizzCon, but the basic idea is that shards provide a combat boost when needed without becoming a resource that needs to be farmed. Currently too many of the shard abilities are maintenance-like things such as demons and stones. Blowing a shard should be a big deal -- an exciting moment. We want to make shards fun and remove the hassle, but we want to make them a core part of the warlock experience and not a marginalized feature.

Community Team: Most DPS classes can spend three (or less) talent points to decrease their threat by 30%, while warlocks must spend four talent points in two different trees to gain a 10% drop in threat. What are our thoughts on this, and why the discrepancy?

Ghostcrawler: There are a couple of situations like this in the warlock tree. The essential problem is we want locks to be able to go down their different trees. When you have something important like threat-reduction or range, it either needs to go very high in the trees where everyone can reach it, or you need to have duplicate talents that essentially accomplish the same thing. The problem with the latter approach is that confusing things can happen when you get both talents -- either they stack (which is too powerful) or they don’t stack (which can be confusing or make talent builds difficult). The way we have tried to solve the latter problem is having some talents affect Fire / Destro and some affect Shadow / Affliction. Of course the problem with that approach is that warlocks use both kinds of damage spells. We recognize that we need to solve this problem, but sliding a lot of talents around is not the right way to do it, and also beyond the scope of 3.2. See below for a partial solution for the threat problem though.

Community Team: As a follow-up to the last question, would we consider giving warlocks a better "aggro dump" ability? Currently, their one "aggro dump," Soulshatter, has a long cooldown and costs a reagent.

Ghostcrawler: We are going to lower the cooldown of Soulshatter to three minutes. We don’t think the shard cost is a big expense in PvE situations. Threat-dump abilities are tricky to balance. We don’t want these spells to feel rotational -- you aren’t supposed to do say Curse of Agony, Immolate, Soulshatter, Curse of Agony, Immolate, Soulshatter. They are there for emergencies.

Community Team: In PvP, warlocks feel at a disadvantage against melee classes (and hunters), particularly rogues. What are our thoughts in this, and are there any plans to provide warlocks with a little more help in this area? Additionally, players have often suggested allowing Demonic Circle to be usable while stunned, is this something we'd consider?

Ghostcrawler: The reason we don’t like making Demonic Circle usable while stunned is that changes the ability from a remote evacuation into a stun-breaker. Our concern is locks would never use it except for the stun removal, which makes the spell a lot less cool. Circle is definitely one of those abilities that requires a lot of finesse. Clever locks can do amazing things with it and beginner locks might not get as much benefit out of it. It’s probably also fair to say that stuns (especially chained ones) have become too important in PvP, especially now that we have toned down the impact of some of the other forms of crowd control.

Community Team: Pet survivability is something that comes up often. Do we see this as a concern, and if so are there any plans to increase warlock pet survivability and/or consider decreasing the warlock's dependency on pets in PvP?

Ghostcrawler: It is a concern. We never wanted it to feel like it was stupid to attack the pet -- like they were so unkillable that you just have to endure damage from the pet while you chase down the lock. You have to remember that locks were once really dangerous in PvP (this was back when we added resilience for DoTs) and so everyone was nervous about making their pets too powerful. It’s just incredibly frustrating to be on the other end of that and finally get a pet down only to have to then face the warlock. However times have changed and we think pets are too fragile now. We tried buffing their health a few times, but we think it’s finally time to add resilience to pets and fix it right.

Community Team: Continuing off of the previous question, are we happy with pet scaling currently? One constant request by warlocks in PvP, is to allow scaling for resilience. Would we consider making this change?

Ghostcrawler: Yes, pets are never going to scale correctly as long as there are some stats that affect the master but not the pet. If the lock gains crit and haste, the demons don’t benefit as much as if the lock had gained spellpower. This is a problem. We need to make pets just scale with all stats. Technically, this is not a “flip the switch” kind of change. It’s complicated so it’s going to take some time to do right. We’ll get resilience and spell pen done first.

Community Team: Many warlocks often find it difficult to resummon or switch pets, especially when compared to other pet classes. Fel Domination with Master Summoner is nice for those who have the talents, but still somewhat problematic due to the long cooldown of Fel Domination.

Ghostcrawler: As you probably know by now, we are dramatically lowering the cooldown on Fel Domination.

Community Team: Talents that increase the range for spells is often a point of concern, particularly for PvE-focused warlocks due to the warlock's mixture of using both Affliction and Destruction abilities. Is it possible that warlocks can be given a merged range talent in a low tier of either tree?

Ghostcrawler: This is the same problem I mentioned above. Moving the talent up higher is one solution, but it would have to be very high and whatever talents are there now would have to come down. This then becomes a pretty significant re-architecture of the talent tree. It is something we want to address, but probably isn’t a 3.2 change.

Community Team: Do we have plans to add a little more burst potential to the Affliction tree?

Ghostcrawler: Yes, and Haunt is probably the right place to do it. Haunt is one of the few Affliction spells that can’t reach the 200% crit level, so we are going to make that change through Pandemic.

Community Team: The spell Hellfire is one that warlocks rarely use, due to that fact it's channeled, generates a great deal of threat, and has self-damaging properties. What are our thoughts on how this spell currently functions, and what might we consider changing in the future?

Ghostcrawler: We’d agree that the “interesting tradeoff” isn’t that interesting, and in fact it’s hard to find niches for so many different AE spells. Long-term this might be the kind of spell that gets cut.

Community Team: A common concern that comes up regarding warlock players is in regards to their minor glyphs. While they understand that these glyphs aren't meant to be game-changing, many of the minor glyphs focus on improving spells that aren't really used at all, such as Eye of Kilrogg. Would we consider looking at the minor glyphs available for warlocks and possibly making some improvements?

Ghostcrawler: We can look at the minor glyphs. We are more concerned at the moment with making sure the major glyphs are interesting without being overpowered.

Community Team: Green fire for spells has been something that's often requested by warlocks. Would we consider adding this into the game, possibly in the form of a minor glyph so that we're not forcing it on players who may not desire their fire spells to be green?

Ghostcrawler: We wouldn’t do it through a minor glyph. Originally, we were going to make the minor glyphs mostly cosmetic like this, but as we evolved the glyph feature we found that some spells just didn’t make sense to have a major glyph, so these became minors. We definitely understand some (many? all?) warlocks would love to have green fire and we’ll try and find a cool way to deliver on this. At this point, we’d probably rather do it with a flashy new spell rather than just change up an existing one, but we’ll have to see. As with the new druid forms, after waiting so long, we’d want to do it right.

Community Team: Would we consider adding a warlock-specific flying mount? Warlocks have promised to never complain again should such a feature be added. Okay, not really...

Ghostcrawler: I think it fits the warlock kit pretty well to have some kind of crazy flying demon. We don’t have any art for such a creature yet, but we’ll keep it in mind. You’d have to go back to Dire Maul to get it. Okay, not really…

Community Team: Are there any plans to allow warlocks to slightly customize or change the appearance of their pets?

Ghostcrawler: This is something we are discussing. There are several voidwalker and imp models we could use pretty easily and it might be nice to add more felhounds and succubi. This isn’t a high priority, but something we would like to eventually get around to improving. We are discussing whether this is simply just random variation (like the names) or whether it becomes an even bigger feature.

World of Warcraft EU and US Community News Update!

2009-07-01T19:43:45Z

Proposed Warrior Rage Changes follow up

Known combat mechanic bug in current PTR build

On Protection warriors (+follow-up)

On Zombie Event and future events (+follow-up)

EU Forums:

Most Recent Poll:

What is your favourite Horde female dance?

Here are some of the most recent blue-posts made on the EU forums:

2009 Regional Finals Coverage
Regional Finals Coverage - Friday
Regional Finals Coverage - Saturday
Regional Finals Coverage - Sunday
2009 Regional Finals: Videos & Gallery

Upcoming Isle of Conquest changes

lass Q&A: Death Knight

On Stonekeeper’s Shards Achievement

Updated 3.2 Engineering Changes

Living Bomb on more than 1 target

On Crusader Strike

Yogg-Saron Hotfixes

Faction-Change Service in the Works

Upcoming Isle of Conquest Changes

01/07 Realms and Migration

US Forums:

3.2 lore

BlizzCon 2009 Live Stream Orders Open

regarding Pets #1

on Occulus Achievement

Headless Horseman cast #1 #2

Developer Posts:

About block (continued)

EXP-gain in battlegrounds probably not active yet on PTRs

DK tanking and design goals

Possible Warrior-changes in next PTR-build (+follow-up)

Eclipse Bug

on new FoL Hot

Proposed Warrior Rage Changes follow up

Known combat mechanic bug in current PTR build

On Protection warriors (+follow-up)

On Zombie Event and future events (+follow-up)

Website:

2009 Warcraft Regional Finals: Videos & Gallery - 01/07/09

Last Sunday, the 28th of June, the 2009 Warcraft Regional Finals for Warcraft III:The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft in Cologne, Germany came to an end. We have prepared for you a video page with an overview of all the matches that were played during the event. We have also updated our Gallery with more photos from the event. Make sure to check it out here!

Please check back frequently over the next few days as we will be updating this site with after-event footage and commentaries on the matches.

New Fan Art: Heavencry! - 01/07/09

We’ve added Heavencry’s latest creation, a self-portrait entitled Heavencry. Dark and foreboding, this self-portrait shows a death knight mounted upon a frightful nightmare of a beast, surveying the dark landscape below him.

We're always looking for new fan art and if you're an artist, you can submit your work to us here. We update the Gallery regularly and encourage you to check regularly to see what new and talented submissions are on display.

WoW TCG: Fields of Honor Released! - 30/06/09

Fields of Honor, the latest expansion to the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, has been released! With all new loot cards, hero cards, and resource cards based around the World of Warcraft battlegrounds. This expansion also includes weapon and armor cards for the Death Knight hero class. Head over to Upper Deck’s World of Warcraft Trading Card Game site to learn more!

Win A Trip To BlizzCon Costume Contest Winners! - 30/06/09

We are pleased to announce the winning entries to the Win A Trip To BlizzCon Costume Contest. Congratulations to our grand prize winner, S. Quindt, who has won a trip to BlizzCon in August! Congratulations also to A. Oslén, E. Cochuyt, H. Cogan, M. Deconstanzi, and H. Coy who have won great loot from our partners SteelSeries, Panini, and Upper Deck!

Check out the winning entries now!

New Wallpaper: Wood Giant! - 30/06/09

We have just added a new wallpaper to our World of Warcraft Wallpaper Gallery featuring a Wood Giant from Northrend. Take a moment to check it out!

2009 Regional Finals: Day 3 – part 2 - 28/06/09

The 2009 Warcraft Regional Finals have come to an end! We shared exciting moments and thrilling matches with our visitors and viewers here at the venue in Cologne, Germany. Fast matches, breathtaking scenes and top performances shown by the participants of this tournament heated up the air in the halls of the KOMED venue during all three days.

The last day finished with the North American finals for both Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft. In the final rounds of Warcraft III, LongWalk defeated SonKiE a second and final time with 2:1, taking back home $5000.00 and a spot at the Grand Finals in Anaheim for his impressive performance during this event.

Set to fight it out in the Lower Bracket finals for World of Warcraft were TSG and EG. The match was played out relatively quickly as each team won every second round, making good use of all five potential rounds. In the fifth round, we found TSG playing very aggressively and cooldowns such as BladeStorm were used straight off the bat in order to put that extra little bit of pressure on EG. The tactic proved successful as they managed to drop Azael after a well-coordinated target-swap, securing their spot in the Grand Finals.

Waiting for TSG in the Grand Finals was SK Gaming US who considered themselves very well-prepared for TSG despite having never faced them in a tournament before. The rounds went by quickly as SK Gaming justified their high level of confidence by winning the match 3-1 in some very fast-paced rounds. Their use of Mass Dispel against Zilea's bubble won them the round as they proved to the world that they are currently the best American team in the world , receiving a reward of $15.000.00 for their title.

Finally we would like to thank all players, visitors, and spectators for their dedication and commitment. We hope that everybody had as much fun as we did on this great event here in Cologne. Make sure to check out our Regional Finals page here. Don’t miss the latest live coverage for this last tournament day on our forum thread for today. Additionally we have updated our gallery with more pictures showing impressions and emotions we were able to catch here for you.

2009 Regional Finals: Day 3 – part 1 - 28/06/09

The second day of the Regional Finals in Cologne, Germany is over with plenty of fast-paced and thrilling games and matches. During the first half of the day, the last four games of the EU Regional Finals took place and we were able to see the champions for both Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne – LucifroN -- as well as for World of Warcraft -- team x6tence from Spain -- who managed to come back from the lower brackets and take the title once again.

The second half of the day, the 2009 US Regional Finals started, bringing us a lot of exciting and fast-paced matches. For Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne SonKiE and LongWalk reached the semi-final of the upper bracket while ShrieK and CrunCher are fighting their way through the lower bracket. The upper bracket of World of Warcraft was dominated by the teams EG and the tournament veterans SK Gaming US while in the lower bracket the teams TSG and eMg managed to beat their opponents.

We also saw several contests down in the free gaming area and signing sessions with Tom Chilton. The venue was crowded with spectators cheering for their favorite players while following the breathtaking fights which took place live on stage.

Today, however, we will be watching the last set of US matches. Expectations are high as we are left with the above-mentioned players and teams to duke it out not only for the title of North American regional champions, but for a chance to visit BlizzCon and participate in the Grand Finals of 2009 in Anaheim, California.

Be sure to check out our Regional Finals page here. Don't miss the live coverage for this last tournament day on our forum thread for today and stay tuned for more exciting coverage and additional images in our Regional Finals gallery.

2009 Regional Finals: Day 2 – part 1 - 27/06/09

The second day of the 2009 Warcraft Regional Finals here in Cologne has already started and we already know the teams and players who won a safe place for the Grand Finals this year in Anaheim, California.

For WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne LucifroN, Nicker, and Grubby won their spots for the Grand Finals, while for World of Warcraft team Woah and x6tence, who just defeated eDawgs in the lower bracket semi-final, earned their tickets to BlizzCon in Anaheim where the Grand Finals will be held.

Today Grubby showed his strength in the EU Warcraft Regional Finals, defeating Nicker, a night elf player, quite quickly in the first game. After a fight between two huge armies in the second game as well, Grubby emerged victorious as well. Later on team x6tence, the winners of last year’s EU Regional Finals, crushed the eDawgs RMP team in three very fast and exiting matches in the lower bracket World of Warcraft Semi-Finals with 3:0, leaving eDawgs in the dust.

The Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was staged between the two famous players LucifroN, winner of yesterday’s upper bracket, and Grubby, who got his chance for revenge after losing against LucifroN yesterday morning in the first Warcraft III game of the day. Grubby started strong and was able to beat LucifroN on the first map. LucifroN recovered quickly and showed his superior skills, defeating Grubby with 2:1 on the last two maps to become the winner of the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne 2009 Regional Finals, taking home $5000.00 as a prize.

Spanish domination kept on going when team x6tence was able to defeat team Woah -- led by the famous Inflame -- in two breathtaking rounds, winning both times 3:2. A thrilling moment was the match where Woah lost their druid but still kept on going, finally resulting in the defeat of team x6tence in that round. After two rounds, x6tence won the World of Warcraft Regional Finals and received a $15,000 check from Tom Chilton.

Stay tuned and continue watching the beginning of the 2009 North American Regional Finals which will start in a few minutes with more exciting matches on our website for the Regional Finals and make sure to check out the live coverage on our forum thread.

2009 Regional Finals Day One - Part 2 - 26/06/09

The first day of the 2009 Regional Finals has seen plenty of action loaded matches for Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. European players Grubby and LucifroN and teams Woah and eDawgs have fought and won their first round matches in this amazing tournament here in Cologne, Germany.

One of the most energetic matches in WCIII’s first round was shown to us by Grubby, losing the first game against Happy (download the replay), struggling in the second, but recovering amazingly to eventually defeat Happy 2:1 thus keeping his title "King of the Orcs".

On the World of Warcraft Arena side, “Rest in many pieces” lost against eDawgs in an awesome second round battle featuring two RMP (Rogue Mage Priest) teams, a popular class composition for the European competitors. In the second game, both spectators and Blizzard staff watched breathlessly while the two surviving mages hunted each other with DaisyD from “Rest in many pieces” finally triumphing over his counterpart, Saori of eDawgs.

Players including Happy, SaSe, VortiX and Nicker as well as teams Rest in many pieces, SK Gaming EU, x6tence and aAa will continue battling each other in the Lower Bracket of this tournament, fighting for a chance to reach the finals.

We’ve updated our photo gallery for the Regional Finals with many awesome pictures. Check out our gallery to get an impression of the tournament location, visitors, shoutcasters and of course the players on stage. Be sure to continue following the exciting action in real-time from our Regional Finals live Internet stream. You can also check out the live coverage on our Forum thread for Day 1.

Stay tuned for further exciting coverage from the 2009 Regional Finals!

2009 Warcraft Regional Finals Day One - 26/06/09

Today, Friday the 26th of June, the 2009 Regional Finals for World of Warcraft Arena and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne will open its gates to both pro-gamers and visitors looking forward to the start of the competition. The expectations are high, plenty of well-known players and teams have gathered in Cologne to fight for the European and North American Regional Finals title for 2009.

The first matches are slated to start at 14:00 PM CEST. Be sure to check out our information page for a detailed schedule and also our live updated brackets page for both World of Warcraft and Warcraft III.

Additionally we will provide you with live, up-to-date coverage on the Community Forums. Each day, we will be creating one forum thread and providing coverage, commentary, and perhaps a few responses to questions that come up over the days. See the Day One thread where we’re gathering some initial impressions from our pre-event coverage for your reading pleasure.

Upcoming Engineering Changes

2009-06-29T21:11:52Z

Upcoming Engineering Changes

Quote from: Zarhym (Source)

We've added several new changes for engineers in patch 3.2. Some of these additions may appear in the next public test realm build, and as such, we'd like to tell you what changes are coming. Please bear in mind that some of these changes may not appear in the next test build, and all of these changes are subject to revision until patch 3.2 is officially released.

Here is the latest version of the 3.2 Engineering section which will be reflected in the patch notes on our forums and website soon:

Engineering

Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look... stylish?

Added a schematic for a Goblin Welding Beam that can heal friendly mechanical or vehicle units.

Alarm-o-Bot functionality changed. Materials required reduced.

Box of Bombs no longer requires an anvil.

The Cobalt Frag Bomb now incapacitates enemies within a 3-yard radius. A short cast time was added, but they are usable while moving. This change applies to any Cobalt Frag Bombs already created. The existing recipe now makes 3 at a time.

Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous places.

Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.

Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave, Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.

Increased siege damage caused by Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge.

Mote Extractor now has innate tracking for gas clouds while it is in your inventory. Tracking of gas clouds has been removed from goggles.

A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid. Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+). Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements, can only be summoned once an hour. The schematic for this handsome robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot – hoping to be found by an engineer one day.

Nitro Boosts: Now have a 5-second duration.

Potion Injectors now increase the amount gained by 25% when used by engineers. Quantity produced by recipes for Runic Healing and Mana Injectors has been increased.

Reduced the materials needed to create all engineering Dragonlings, and reduced their cooldowns, although they still cannot be used in Arenas.

Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.

The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 10 minutes (never runs out!).

A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one's faction Auction House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master engineers.

Transporter devices are no longer classified as trinkets and can be used directly from your inventory.

The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials required to make this ammunition.

China Bans Gold Farming! A Nearly 200 Million Dollar Industry In China

2009-06-29T20:00:58Z

An update of massive proportions today from China as they've outlawed "gold farming"! The Chinese government estimates around $146 million flows through their virtual farmers every year, other experts say its as large as 5 times that amount. They're working on stopping it and say it's a curtail gambling and other illegal online activities. The effects to games such as World of Warcraft by this new law remain to be seen!

Here's the original article from InformationWeek about China banning gold farming:

In addition to its ongoing crackdown on Internet porn, the Chinese government has declared that virtual currency cannot be traded for real goods or services.

Virtual currency, as defined by Chinese authorities, includes "prepaid cards of cyber-games," according to a joint release issued by China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

"The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services," the Ministries said.

The Chinese government estimates that trade in virtual currency exceeded several billion yuan last year, a figure that it claims has been growing at a rate of 20% annually. One billion yuan is currently equal to about $146 million.

The ruling is likely to affect many of the more than 300 million Internet users in China, as well as those in other countries involved in virtual currency trading. In the context of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, virtual currency trading is often called gold farming.

The most popular form of virtual currency in China is called "QQ coins," a form of virtual credit issued by Tencent.com.

Tencent.com, which has about 220 million registered users -- about as many as Facebook -- is quoted in the Chinese government news release as "resolutely" supporting the new rule. The government justifies its ban on virtual currency trading as a way to curtail gambling and other illegal online activities.

The trading of virtual currency for real cash employs hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and generates between $200 million and $1 billion annually, according to a 2008 survey conducted by Richard Heeks at the University of Manchester.

He estimates that between 80% and 85% of gold farmers are based in China.

"[M]any online games have a virtual economy and an in-game currency," he states in his survey. "Gold farmers can play in-game to make some currency. They then sell that for real money -- typically via a Web site and using the PayPal payment system -- to other players of the game."

Game companies typically forbid gold farming but committed virtual currency traders find ways around such rules. Some game companies have recognized the futility of trying to ban the practice and have built virtual commerce into their game infrastructure.

Rawrcast: 4th of July Show, Guests, and Fireworks!

2009-06-29T15:27:20Z

Rawrcast has some big plans for summer including a steamy 4th of July show! The show will feature Patrick Beja, known from his featured segments on The Instance, Co-host of how I WoW, and now lead host on Movielicious!

Tune in to the Rawrcast on July 4th and read the official site news for more information:

The summer is heating up at Rawrcast! And, this week we are kicking things off with a special double-header 4th of July.

We are starting off the day with our Euro-Friendly Special Episode at 9AM, CST/4PM, CEST featuring none other than Patrick Beja! Patrick is known for many things throughout our WoW Community, including his regularly featured segment on The Instance, Co-host of How I WoW, and now lead host on the new Movielicious along with Nicole Spagnola and Turpster! We will be chatting about all of Patrick's current projects, his involvement in the social networking community, and his plans for the future. Things are bound to get wild as we open the floor for an exclusive Q&A session with Patrick, the Frenchman with a flare for all things Warcraft!

Then, the fireworks start to glare as we welcome Keeva from Tree Bark Jacket to our regularly scheduled show at 4PM, CST! Keeva started as many other players have, loving the game and writing a blog. But, now she has become the go-to resource for all things Tree-related. Filling in the shoes of Momma Phaelia, Keeva has kept her straight forward blog at the top of our minds with her feelings of equality, common sensibility, and openness to others opinions. Together, we will be talking tree as we review the upcoming 3.2 changes, review changes in previous patches, and discuss some developments we would like to see from the game in the near future.

So, stop on by our discussion forums for more information, propose questions to our guests, or recommend guests for future episodes of Rawrcast!

WorldofWarcraft.com: Regional Finals Starting Today!

2009-06-26T19:44:23Z

WorldofWarcraft.com has sent out a recent update regarding the Regional Finals that start Today! The finals will take place in Cologne Germany and feature World of Warcraft Arena and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne!

Here's the official Regional Finals update from WorldofWarcraft.com:

Starting this Friday, the 2009 Regional Finals featuring World of Warcraft Arena and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, will take place in Cologne, Germany. The best players and teams from the US and the EU will compete to determine which of them will win a much sought-after spot at the Grand Finals at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California.

Watch the action in-person by joining us at the KOMED Meeting Centre in Cologne's MediaPark or follow the action from wherever you are through our official Regional Finals website. Additionally, we've prepared for you a brackets page with all participants, which will be updated throughout the event. The newly added tournament schedule available from the Information Page will help you follow the action and our Community team will keep you updated during the entire event from our Forums.

Stay tuned for more information about this exciting event and we hope enjoy the action, be it live or via our stream!

World of Warcraft EU and US Community Update Re-cap!

2009-06-24T21:04:40Z

We have received a World of Warcraft Community update today from Ancilorn! The update includes important posts from the EU & U.S. forums as well as important developer posts from the past week. There are also several updates from the official World of Warcraft website that are detailed below. Some of the hot developer topics this week include:

Most Recent Poll:
How many Mysterious Eggs have you hatched?

Here are some of the most recent blue-posts made on the EU forums:

US Forums:

Developer Posts:

Website:

FigurePets Now Available - 24/06/09

As of today, FigurePrints is expanding their services to offer limited-edition pets to go along with their custom character statues, and manufactured using the same high-tech 3D printing process. To begin with, three pets are available: Clockwork Rocket Bot, Speedy the turtle, and Stinky the skunk. These pets are only available until July 31, after which they will not be produced again. You can purchase them individually for €27.95 or get the whole set for €68.85, and with any FigurePets order, you’ll also earn a 10% discount on a FigurePrints character statue.

For more information or to place an order, head over to www.figureprints.com.

New Fan Art: Death Knight's Awakening! - 24/06/09

We’ve added Killaone’s latest creation, Death Knight's Awakening. This once-brave and noble warrior awakens from the sleep of death as a servant of the Scourge!

We're always looking for new fan art and if you're an artist, you can submit your work to us here. We update the Gallery regularly and encourage you to check regularly to see what new and talented submissions are on display.

Under Development – Patch 3.2 Content – 23/06/09

In the past few weeks, we’ve made several announcements concerning the changes coming up in the next major content patch, Call of the Crusade. In case you’ve missed any, here’s what we have in store for you:

Check out the Forum Watch below for more information!

New Wallpaper: River's Heart! - 23/06/09

We have just added a new wallpaper to our World of Warcraft Wallpaper Gallery featuring River's Heart in Sholazar Basin. Take a moment to check it out!

The Crusaders' Coliseum - 22/06/09

The time to strike at the heart of the Scourge is drawing close. Clouds blanket the skies of Azeroth and heroes gather beneath battle-worn banners in preparation for the coming storm. They say even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. It is this hope that drives the men and women of the Argent Crusade: hope that the Light will see them through these trying times, hope that good will triumph over evil, hope that a hero blessed by the Light will come forth to put an end to the Lich King's dark reign.

So the Argent Crusade has sent out the call, a call to arms for all heroes far and wide, to meet at the very doorstep of the Lich King's domain and to prove their might in a tournament the likes of which Azeroth has never seen...

The Midsummer Fire Festival Is Coming Soon! - 19/06/09

Each summer, the arrival of the Midsummer Fire Festival signals a time of merriment and a chance to revel in the hottest season of the year by lighting celebratory bonfires across the land and sharing in what the elemental spirits have to offer. This year (beginning June 21 and continuing until July 5), the festival features some fun and exciting events, quests, and prizes, including a special summoned boss for groups of high-level players. Learn more about the new Midsummer Fire Festival content in our Midsummer Fire Festival page!

Class Q&A Series: Mage - 19/06/09

Today we continue our class Q&A series with Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street and the development team, where we’re taking a look at each class and answering some of the top questions brought forward by their communities. Next up, we take a look at the most asked questions from the mage class and find out more about the design philosophy behind the class, the expectations for the class, and what may lie in store for it in the future.

Be sure to read the new Q&A.

Battlegrounds Q&A! - 18/06/09

We have just posted a Q&A with World of Warcraft developer Cory Stockton concerning the future of the Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft and some behind-the-scenes information on the upcoming battleground, the Isle of Conquest! Take a moment to check it out.

PTR Character Copies Now Available - Premades Included

2009-06-22T21:52:17Z

PTR Character Copies Now Available - Premades Included

The character copy for the Public Test Realms has been reset to 4 copies as of this news, and also includes premades. The second image was taken earlier when it wasn't enabled, but as you can see from my "success" image, it's now available and working. Does this mean 3.2 PTR today?! Make sure to read the latest 3.2 patch notes to catch yourself up on everything, just in case.

Crusaders' Coliseum Sneak Peek

2009-06-22T21:26:01Z

Crusaders' Coliseum Sneak Peek

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

The time to strike at the heart of the Scourge is drawing close. Clouds blanket the skies of Azeroth and heroes gather beneath battle-worn banners in preparation for the coming storm. They say even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. It is this hope that drives the men and women of the Argent Crusade: hope that the Light will see them through these trying times, hope that good will triumph over evil, hope that a hero blessed by the Light will come forth to put an end to the Lich King's dark reign.

So the Argent Crusade has sent out the call, a call to arms for all heroes far and wide, to meet at the very doorstep of the Lich King's domain and to prove their might in a tournament the likes of which Azeroth has never seen. Of course, a tournament such as this needs a fitting stage. A place where potential candidates are tested to the limits of exhaustion. A place where heroes... become champions. A place called the Crusaders' Coliseum.

Prove Your Might
The Crusaders' Coliseum, a new raid set to open its doors once World of Warcraft's next content patch is released, will see you and your friends facing off against a series of increasingly challenging bosses, terrible monsters the Argent Crusade brought in from all over Northrend. Although the challenge is great, you will find that the prizes the Argent Crusade has to offer will make it all well worth your while.

The setup for the Crusaders' Coliseum is surprisingly straightforward. If you are familiar with the Ring of Blood quest line, you already have a vague idea of how the Crusaders' Coliseum plays out in principle. After you and your friends enter the coliseum, you will face the first of several bosses; once you've defeated a boss, you will move on to the next one. You must master the encounters one by one, until you finally face the raid's final challenge. Sound simple? That's because there is a twist.

In the "Heroic" version of the Crusaders' Coliseum, you and your raid only have a limited number of attempts for each raid lockout period, and each time your raid wipes, one of your attempts will be used up. To embark on the epic Trial of the Grand Crusader, you must first prove your worth by clearing either the 10 or 25 player version of the Crusaders' Coliseum's normal mode. After you have dealt the killing blow to the coliseum's final heroic mode boss will you be able to collect the Crusaders' Tribute, and the fewer attempts you needed to complete the Trial of the Grand Crusader, the better your reward will be.
Meet (some of) the Bosses

Beasts: Your first challenge will pit you against a group of terrifying beasts the Argent Crusade captured in Northrend, including (but not limited to) a magnataur and not one, but two jormungar wyrms.

Scourge: Some call the lieutenants of the Lich King fearsome creatures made of pure nightmare, which is doubtlessly a fitting description. How the Argent Crusade managed to capture these fiends remains a mystery; what's less mystifying is your fate should you fail to overcome this challenge.

Upcoming Paladin changes

2009-06-18T17:45:22Z

Yesterday we had details on the Crusaders' Coliseum and the new Shaman Totem Bar. Today it's information on some major changes to the Paladin class in patch 3.2!

Patch 3.2: Upcoming Paladin changes

Quote from: Eyonix (Source)

We have several big changes coming up for the paladin class in patch 3.2. The paladin class Q&A is still in progress, so rather than making you wait, we wanted to give you a preview of what we’re trying to do with all three paladin talent trees. We thought some of the patch notes might not make sense until you understand the design goals.

Caveats: Some of these changes are still in progress and may ultimately end up in a different form or with different numbers. We definitely want to see these changes in action on the PTR and we will iterate on them accordingly based on player testing and feedback. None of this is set in stone. Furthermore, assume that talents, glyphs or set bonuses that affect any impacted abilities will also be changed accordingly. Finally, don’t expect that every class will see this many changes. We are making far fewer changes to class mechanics overall in 3.2, but paladins in particular have some issues we feel are in need of being addressed.

Protection

Currently, we think paladin tanks are almost there and that they just need slightly better cooldowns to handle some of the tougher boss fights. Rather than add a new ability that felt like a clone of another class’s ability, we decided to buff an existing talent that was no longer cutting it. Ardent Defender has two important changes. The first is that the damage can no longer “skip over” the 35% health level – it will always be reduced. Secondly, it has a new effect that if a blow would kill you, it instead sets you to 30% health. This portion of the ability cannot occur more than once every 2 minutes. Think of it as a Last Stand that you don’t have to push.

A second change to Protection is we want to make sure Blessing of Sanctuary is always the tanking blessing of choice. A likely change here is to have it boost stamina as well.

We also recognize that block does not provide the mitigation it once did. While we have long-term plans to change the way block works entirely, in the short term we are doubling the effect of bonus block value on items (so jewelry, but not shields).

Holy

We like that Holy paladins have a niche as single-target healers. The problem is we think this niche is a little too narrow at the moment. Furthermore, paladins don’t have a wide arsenal of healing spells so it’s important that all of them are being used.

First, we are changing Flash of Light so that it places a heal-over-time effect on any target with Sacred Shield on them (the effect will be similar to Sheathe of Light). This should make Flash see a little more use.

Second, and more importantly, we are changing the way Beacon of Light works. Currently, it does not count over-healing on the target. We are changing that. In other words, if you place Holy Light on a rogue who is already at full health, it will still have the full effect on a tank with Beacon of Light on them. This is a huge buff, particularly when you consider the Holy Light glyph which allows for a small amount of “splash” healing. This effect isn’t common when you use Holy Light on a tank because the tank is often standing alone. But if you heal the melee, you are likely to get a lot more total healing from this effect (while still healing the tank through Beacon of Light). We are also going to try to allow a target to have more than one beacon (i.e. from different paladins) on them.

Many players may surmise that this change would make paladins far and away the best healers in the game. This is partially because paladin mana regeneration is so potent. That isn’t an issue when the paladin can generally only heal the tank. With the Beacon of Light change, the paladin can provide a lot more raid or party healing. To adjust for this, we are going to reduce the amount of mana returned by Illumination. If you use Holy Light too recklessly (such as on targets who don’t require that much healing) you do risk burning out of mana too quickly. Of course, they will still have Divine Plea and other mana regeneration mechanics.

As a footnote, we are also likely to slightly adjust Replenishment and buff the amount of MP5 on gear.

These changes should lead to healing as Holy being more dynamic – you are going to be targeting a lot more group members than just the tank, while still providing massive healing on the tank. However, you won’t be able to just constantly spam your biggest heals, at least not on the more challenging encounters. There is an opportunity here for skilled players to really do some outstanding healing as paladins, but it’s going to take a little more effort. This is something a lot of players have been asking for so we hope that it delivers without completely changing what some paladins enjoy about their healing style.

Retribution

Depending on who you ask, Retribution paladins are either perceived as being in need of improvements to make them stronger or are in need of changes to make them less powerful. We are really happy with the overall changes to the Seal and Judgement system from Lich King. However, Ret still has some problems. There aren’t enough buttons to push and they are all limited by cooldowns, allowing Ret paladins to have a lot of up-front burst without requiring a lot of skill or timing to actually hit those buttons (now after the opening moves of a fight, we think things get a lot more interesting because now the paladin’s defenses, healing and dispelling can come into play). We have other problems to fix as well. Exorcism currently can’t be used on players, which we think is a weak design. We have also become less enamored with the drawback to Seal of Blood / Seal of the Martyr causing damage to the paladin.

Here are the design changes we hope will fix all of these problems:

First, Exorcism has a cast time of 1.5 seconds but can be used on players again. This will let paladins use it in PvP, but not while moving towards a target.

Second, we are changing The Art of War to make not only Flash of Light instant, but also Exorcism. Choose healing or damage. Paladins will have to watch for this proc and use Exorcism when it happens. The spell itself is still ranged, but the proc will only occur when the paladin is already in melee.

Third, we are lowering the cooldown and damage of Crusader Strike to four seconds from six seconds. This accomplishes a few things. It lowers burst, it gives the paladins more buttons to push since they aren’t always waiting on cooldowns, it requires a little more skill since the player will have to choose between Crusader Strike and other attacks more often (such as the new Exorcism procs), and it gives Retribution a chance to get more damage out of their Seals (providing a sustained DPS boost for PvE).

Fourth, we are removing Seal of Blood and Seal of the Martyr. The damage recoil increasingly felt like a liability in PvE, and wasn’t serving to offset the massive burst damage capable in PvP. We are buffing Seal of Vengeance / Corruption and redesigning Seal of Command with the expectation that these are now the seals of choice for PvP and PvE. Righteousness can remain a tanking seal.

Finally, we are replacing the current effect of Vindication with an attack power debuff that works like Demoralizing Shout. In PvP, Ret paladins can still debuff melee targets, while in PvE they can provide another necessary debuff in the case that the tank is not a warrior or druid. In addition, the talent may be more attractive to Protection paladins.

These changes do not close the door on adding additional attacks, PvP utility or even the oft-requested Crusader Strike debuff. If the changes outlined above finally accomplish the goal of balancing Retribution in PvE and PvP, then we can start exploring those other design issues.

Again, these are our current plans and they may change based on testing and feedback. The changes to all three trees are things we are working on right now. Some of them might not work out quite the way we intended and will have to undergo iteration before finally showing up in 3.2. Even once the patch goes live, we are still likely to have to tweak numbers. This is simply a preview of what may yet come and we hope that it will be viewed as such.

Enter the Crusaders’ Coliseum

2009-06-18T04:16:00Z

Enter the Crusaders’ Coliseum

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

In the next major content patch, the construction of the Crusaders’ Coliseum on the Argent Tournament grounds will be complete, and it will hold new challenges for players. We’d like to share some details on the new dungeon, which represents the next tier of content for the game, but keep in mind that this is still in development and subject to change. The Crusaders’ Coliseum will include:

New epic 10- and 25-player raid dungeon with five encounters, with each encounter being unlocked one week at a time

A more intuitive structure for harder encounters. This raid dungeon will have four different versions: 10-player, 25-player, 10-player Heroic, and 25-player Heroic, with each one using a separate lockout.

Introduction of the Crusaders’ Tribute! Each of the Heroic mode instances has a new tribute system that will limit players on the number of attempts they get in the Coliseum each week to present a greater challenge for the most battle-hardened heroes. Additional rewards can be earned depending on the number of attempts left in the tribute run each week when the final boss is defeated.

New 5-player dungeon with three encounters that will include Champion’s Seals as each one is defeated

New tier of armor and weapons that are modeled with Alliance- or Horde-specific themes

WoW U.S. and E.U. Forum and Community Update From Slorkuz!

2009-06-17T19:33:43Z

We have received a World of Warcraft Community update today from Slorkuz! The update includes important posts from the EU & U.S. forums as well as important developer posts from the past week. There are also several updates to the official World of Warcraft website that are detailed below. Some of the hot developer topics this week include:

·         Fan of Knives in 5 vs 5
·         Innervate in arenas
·         Feral PvP gloves -15 energy for maim
·         Algalon helm bugged
·         Hybrid classes

EU Forums:

Most Recent Poll:

· What have you Gotten from Cooking Dailies?

Here are some of the most recent blue-posts made on the EU forums:

· Mount Changes

· Warcraft 3 Regionals: EU and US participants unveiled

· Isle of Conquest Preview

· Arena Tournament Realm re-opens

· On heirloom chestpiece in 3.2

· Cat DPS a little too high

· Recent In-Game Fixes (updated 16/6)

· New Shaman Totem Bar

· On riding cost refunds

· Upcoming Epic Gems and Profession Changes

· Upcoming Transportation improvements

US Forums:

· Druid forms and lower levels

· Have Armor Will Travel

· Strand of the Ancients coin flip

· Upcoming Mount Changes - Updated 6/15

· How many Mysterious Eggs have you hatched?

· Global Writing Contest Q&A

· On Argent Tournament mounts

Developer Posts:

· Fan of Knives in 5 vs 5

· Innervate in arenas

· Feral PvP gloves -15 energy for maim

· Algalon helm bugged

· Hybrid classes

· Spreadsheets and boss fights

· Lesser Healing Wave and Chainheal

· Vindication, ETAs

· Hunter in PvE and PvP

· Crushing Blows

· Totem placement

· Some infos and plans for hunters

· Paladin + Shaman healing

· Arenas, BGs, burst, healing and CC

· RMP in 3vs3

· On item design

Website:

New Argent Tournament Updates - 17/06/09

The Argent Crusade continues to call forth the bold and brave to take up arms against their enemies and overcome the threat of the Lich King. In the upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, the Argent Tournament expands into two new points of interest, adding new dailies, new rewards, and new challenges for the heroes of Azeroth. Read more about these new additions.

Important Battle.net Mobile Authenticator News - 17/06/09

If you use the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator and intend to update your iPhone or iPod touch to iPhone OS 3.0, we would like to highly recommend that you first back up your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer using iTunes prior to performing the update. By taking this important precaution, you will be able to quickly restore your previous install of the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator if you encounter any issues during the update process.

For more information, refer to the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator FAQ.

New Fan Art: Tree of Life! - 17/06/09

We’ve added Blinck’s latest creation, Tree of Life. This compelling guardian of nature stands ready to lend his healing skills to those in need.

We're always looking for new fan art and if you're an artist, you can submit your work to us here. We update the Gallery regularly and encourage you to check regularly to see what new and talented submissions are on display.

Isle of Conquest Preview - 15/06/09

Located north of Icecrown, the Isle of Conquest bristles with activity as the Horde and Alliance go head-to-head in a bid to control the resources that could mean their victory against the forces of the Lich King and his Scourge.The upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, will introduce the new Isle of Conquest Battleground, where players will be able to battle forty-versus-forty to control this critical location.

To read more about the new Battleground, please visit our preview page.

Learn More About The Isle of Quel'Danas! - 15/06/09

Although the war against the Burning Legion continues to rage on Outland, the latest front has emerged on Azeroth itself. The Isle of Quel'Danas, located in the Eastern Kingdoms, has become the Legion's most recent target in its ongoing mission of destruction. Kael'thas Sunstrider, former leader of the blood elves, has revealed himself as the Legion's formidable new ally...

Learn more about the events surrounding the Isle of Quel'Danas on our new page!

New Dungeons Pages Added! - 11/06/09

We have just added dungeon pages with information about Magisters’ Terrace, and the Sunwell Plateau to the Game Guide. Take a moment to check them out!

Class Q&A Series: Shaman - 10/06/09

This week we’re starting our class Q&A series with Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street and the development team. We’ll be taking a look at each class and answering some of the top questions brought forward by their communities. First up, we take a look at the most asked questions from the shaman class and find out more about the design philosophy behind the class, the expectations for the class, and what may lie in store for it in the future.

Be sure to read the new Q&A.

Signing Session at Warcraft Regional Finals

Posted by: Daliniya & Kenzusha | 10/06/09

This year’s Warcraft regional finals are approaching fast, with the event set to take place on June 26th-28th in Cologne, Germany. Seeing the best players from Europe and North America battling it out on stage is definitely something you do not want to miss, and if you stop by, not only will you bear witness to the climactic finals, you’ll also be able to attend organised signings with World of Warcraft Game Director Tom "Kalgan" Chilton.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Mobile Authenticator and iPhone OS 3.0

2009-06-17T17:44:10Z

The new iPhone 3G S will be available this Friday, and to prepare for that a new operating system for both iPhone and iPod Touch are available; version 3.0. If you're planning on upgrading your OS, you'll want to back up your Mobile Authenticator to avoid potential issues with getting it installed again.

Slorkuz posted some tips on it, so check them out below. Note that if you want to update your iPod Touch, it will cost $10, but it's free for iPhone users.

Quote from: Slorkuz (Source)

If you use the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator and intend to update your iPhone or iPod touch to iPhone OS 3.0, we would like to highly recommend that you first back up your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer using iTunes prior to performing the update. By taking this important precaution, you will be able to quickly restore your previous install of the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator if you encounter any issues during the update process.

For more information, refer to the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator FAQ here: http://eu.battle.net/bma

New Shaman Totem Bar

2009-06-17T17:19:18Z

We've had a lot of news going on the past two weeks or so related to patch 3.2. The latest is news of Shaman receiving an interface element, the Totem Bar, which allows you to drop up to four totems at once, in a single global cooldown.

New Shaman Totem Bar

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)

There comes a time in all shaman’s lives when they must learn to harness the power of nature and wield powerful totems. As they grow in power, so do the opportunities to use these instruments of healing, protection, and destruction. In the upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, the shaman will be able to quickly place totems of each element, aiding them in managing these powerful focuses of nature.

We wanted to provide some insight regarding the upcoming shaman-specific interface addition, the Totem Bar. Shaman will be able to utilize this new bar to manage their fire, earth, water, and air totems in a more accessible and convenient way. This bar will appear on the left-hand side above the standard toolbar, similar to warrior stances or druid forms. The bar contains space for four totems of the player’s choice, one of each element. Clicking the respective button will drop that totem. To the right of the four totems is a button for Totemic Call, which we have renamed Call of Earth. To the left of the four totems is a new ability named Call of Fire which will drop all four totems on the bar at once. The mana cost is the same as if the shaman dropped all four of the totems one at a time. However, it takes but a single global cooldown.

Questing shaman will be able to quickly move their totems of choice forward, while a shaman in an instance, Arena, or Battleground will be able to replace their totems if they have to move or if the totems are destroyed.

Shamans will also be able to customize their bar to set Call of Fire to drop less than four totems if they choose. Access to this functionality is made available at the same level as Call of Earth (currently level 30.) At higher levels, Shaman will gain two additional spells, Call of Air and Call of Water. These function exactly the same as Call of Fire, essentially giving the shaman three different sets of totems that can be placed at once. New key bindings will also be made available for all of these slots.

As with all new content under testing, we want to caution players that, as a new part of the interface, there may be additional changes during the period of the PTR until the release of the Call of the Crusade content patch. We look forward to constructive feedback once it is available for testing.